'Shopsin's' on Serious Eats

Try as we might, we don't get to writing about everything we've eaten in this great city. Or maybe we have written about a dish, but it's so good we can't stop thinking about it. You know when you tell your friend that they just have to go to a restaurant and try something? That's this post. More

It's hard to make a good onion ring, at least the traditional way with the thick batter method. So I don't know why I'm the least bit surprised that Shopsins not only says "to hell with this" in their approach to onion rings, but that they make awesome stuff as a result. The Shopsins technique is simple: dredge, don't batter, and don't mind some grease if it does some good. More

You may have never thought, "Hey, I could go for a double-decker grilled cheese sandwich made with three slices of French toast thickly layered with loads of oozing cheese and stuffed with perfectly poached eggs," but now you will. More

Being a vegetarian in New York isn't the challenge it used to be, but that doesn't mean it's always easy. Sure, most restaurants these days offer one or two decent vegetarian options, but sometimes you don't want the pasta or a meal made cobbled together from side dishes. With that in mind, here are 60 recommendations for restaurants that accommodate vegetarians without disappointing carnivores. More

Come Passover, brunch gets hard. No pancakes or English muffins. No Bloody Marys. No toast, oatmeal, grits, fried chicken, or bagels. Your traditional brunch place may not cut it—that's where Shopsins comes in. More

Established in the 1940s by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, the Essex Street Market has witnessed—and played part in—the ever-changing culture of the Lower East Side. Market newcomer Dorie Greenspan took us on a crawl of her new home. Follow along on our tour! More

In red suspenders and a black t-shirt, Kenny pontificates from behind the grill on subjects ranging from the "sexual friction" of fusion cooking to the existential issues of killing flies. These musings, along with the restaurant's story and incredibly inventive menu, make this film mandatory watching for anyone interested in diners, cooks, or quiet, compelling stories in general. More

Soft-scrambled, perfectly poached, or fried, I can't resist a great egg dish. While chefs all over New York do crazy, creative things with them, each more impressive than the last, today I'm talking about simpler stuff—the kind I find myself craving, rather than admiring. Here are nine of my favorite egg dishes in New York; what are yours? More

There's one model of great egg sandwiches, not unlike one model of a great hamburger, that has totally melted cheese (there's nothing wrong with American), soft, fluffy eggs (if they're scrambled), and a squishy bun that's soft enough so nothing spills out when you bite it. That's what you get with the "Tiger Paws" at Shopsin's ($8, +$4 with bacon): three mini egg-sandwiches, served in a row slider-style. More

As we've seen, there are some tourist-frequented spots that really do serve good food. But where do we think tourists should go? Here are a dozen places that we think visitors to our fair city shouldn't miss. (Pizza, bagels, burgers, Italian-American spots, picks for Food Network and Top Chef fans, and the best way to get into great restaurants for less cash—it's all here.) More

One of the great things about Shopsin's is that they not only have dishes unlike anyone else's; they have whole sections of their menu unlike anyone else's. While I'm always tempted by absurd stomach bombs like the Mo' Betta (eggs and sausage hugged by macaroni-and-cheese-pancakes), there are meals when I don't want an entire weekend's worth of food in one go. For those times, I've been exploring the "Poached Eggs, Cubed Toast" corner. Runny eggs over something carb-y is my favorite genre of brunch dish anyway; why not have the toast cut up for you? More

[Photo: Carey Jones] So crispy. So brown. And yet so potato-y. The skin-on French fries at Shopsin's are a fine reminder that a pile of fries can be a crunchy, oily, salty undertaking without losing their essential potato character.... More

[Photo: Blondie and Brownie] We're used to Shopsin's wacky brunch mashups (macaroni and cheese pancakes?), and this find from Blondie and Brownie falls right in line—French toast made into a grilled cheese: Only Shopsin's could come up with something... More

[Photograph of Kenny Shopsin: Jason Fulford; Photograph of Nick Solares: Andrea Anderson] This just in from our correspondent Nick Solares: Shopsins has named a burger after him! The burger is described as "two green chile, onion cheeseburgers, one sesame... More

Photo: NYT Wow. The NYT Diner's Journal blog took famed British chef Heston Blumenthal to Shopsin's—and escaped unscathed, with full bellies, no food thrown at them, and no coffee "accidentally" spilled on their offending camera. What did Blumenthal order? "A... More

So much for fall. In New York, it feels like we've gone from shorts to winter coats in just a few days. But fortunately, there are plenty of rainy-day eats to warm you up. Ten of our favorite comfort... More